Nick Smith gets rev up over ACC bike hike

Slapping huge increases on ACC levies for motorbikes is unjustified, unfair and divisive, Labour leader Phil Goff said today.

Phil Goff was speaking after attending in Manukau the Auckland part of the Ulysses motorcycle club’s National Ride-in Day – a nationwide protest by thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts against the Government’s plans to hike ACC levies for bikers.

“The Government is proposing trebling the levy from $252 to $735 for bikes over 600cc, an increase of just under $500 a year, Phil Goff said.

“That’s the biggest ever increase in ACC levies – and that is unacceptable, it's outrageous, and it's not warranted.

“The clear message from the Government is that it wants motorbikes priced off the road. It ignores the fact that bikers use less petrol, create less pollution, and cause less congestion.

“It ignores the fact, too, that most accidents involving motorbikes are caused by cars.

“Nick Smith has made it clear he wants to introduce a user pays scheme – but that will play one sector of New Zealanders off against another. He is already working on changing the system so that owners of older cars would pay more than new car owners.

“If ACC was user pays, levies would be charged on sports clubs and schools because of the risk of playing sport, elderly people who have more falls because of frailty would be charged for growing old and push bikes would pay huge levies because of the high cost of their accidents, also often not their own fault.

“Also, according to Statistics New Zealand, men make three times as many claims to ACC each year than women (at 22,500 claims) which following Nick Smith’s thinking means men will be charged much more in levies than women.

“None of that makes sense. Labour will try to force some sense out of the Government and a fair deal for bikers and all New Zealanders.

“Nick Smith keeps saying ACC is an insurance scheme. But ACC was never designed as a pure user pays insurance system. It was intended as a no-fault comprehensive system of protection for people who suffered injuries,” Phil Goff said.

ENDS